Is Europe in for a summer of E. coli poisoning?

MUD may be the least of your worries at festivals across Europe this summer: food poisoning may lie in wait.

The outbreak of a rare strain of E. coli in Germany in May seems to have subsided, with no new cases since 11 July, after 3918 people fell ill and 42 died. The outbreak was traced to Egyptian fenugreek seeds used to grow sprouts, a frequent source of food-borne bacteria. The European Union has banned the seeds.

The trouble is that the bacterium has been knocking around Germany for a decade, and may still lurk in people who are symptom-free.